States

Schwarzenegger Vows No K-12 Budget Cuts

By Lesli A. Maxwell — January 06, 2010 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

After carving deeply into California’s K-12 budget over the past two years, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vowed Wednesday to spare schools from further cuts in the budget he will propose for fiscal 2011.

In his final State of the State address, the term-limited governor said that the state’s still-ailing budget will require more painful spending cuts in the coming months, but that he would draw the line on further cuts to both K-12 and higher education.

Spending on the state’s public schools has been slashed by nearly $18 billion since 2008, as the governor and lawmakers struggled to close what was a $62 billion deficit. K-12 spending this year still makes up about 37 percent of California’s $91.4 billion overall budget. The state’s total public school enrollment is about 6 million students.

The fiscally battered state now faces a nearly $20 billion deficit over the next 18 months.

“Because our future economic well-being is so dependent upon education, I will protect education funding in this budget,” Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, said in his Jan. 6 speech to a joint session of the California legislature.

The governor, who is in the final year of his second term, also proposed a constitutional amendment to guarantee that the state will never spend more on prisons than it does on higher education. The governor said that the state is spending nearly 11 percent of the general-fund budget on prisons and 7.5 percent on colleges and universities. Thirty years ago, prison spending was at 3 percent and higher education at 10 percent, he said.

In his address, Mr. Schwarzenegger cited the passage of controversial education reform legislation on Tuesday by the state Assembly, which aims to help make California a strong contender for as much as $700 million in federal Race to the Top funds under the economic-stimulus program enacted by Congress nearly a year ago. Over objections from the California Teachers Association, state legislators agreed to drop the so-called “firewall” that prevented tying student-achievement data to individual teachers’ evaluations. The guidelines for the federal grant competition call for states to eliminate such barriers.

The governor also highlighted a measure that would allow a majority of parents whose children attend a low-performing school to demand a management change, including the possible ouster of the principal. Hailed by some as a transformative reform, the “parent trigger” would be limited to 75 schools statewide. Under the reform package, parents would also be able to transfer their children from poorly performing schools to other campuses, even across school district lines.

The CTA, an affiliate of the National Education Association, has opposed the legislation and continues to urge its defeat as it is expected to be voted on Wednesday by the state Senate.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the January 20, 2010 edition of Education Week

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

States School Chaplain Bills Multiply, Stirring Debate on Faith-Based Counseling
Proponents say school chaplains could help address a mental health crisis. Opponents raise concerns about religious coercion.
6 min read
Image of a bible sitting on top of a school backpack.
Canva
States What's on the K-12 Agenda for States This Year? 4 Takeaways
Reading instruction, private school choice, and teacher pay are among the issues leading governors' K-12 education agendas.
6 min read
Gov. Brad Little provides his vision for the 2024 Idaho Legislative session during his State of the State address on Jan. 8, 2024, at the Statehouse in Boise.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little outlines his priorities during his State of the State address before lawmakers on Jan. 8, 2024, at the capitol in Boise.
Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman via AP
States Q&A How Districts Can Navigate Tricky Questions Raised by Parents' Rights Laws
Where does a parent's authority stop and a school's authority begin? A constitutional law scholar weighs in.
6 min read
Illustration of dice with arrows and court/law building icons: conceptual idea of laws and authority.
Andrii Yalanskyi/iStock/Getty
States What 2024 Will Bring for K-12 Policy: 5 Issues to Watch
School choice, teacher pay, and AI will likely dominate education policy debates.
7 min read
The U.S. Capitol is seen in Washington, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. President Joe Biden on Tuesday night will stand before a joint session of Congress for the first time since voters in the midterm elections handed control of the House to Republicans.
The rising role of artificial intelligence in education and other sectors will likely be a hot topic in 2024 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, as well as in state legislatures across the country.
Mariam Zuhaib/AP